[PHOTOS] Youth train for emergencies

A mock emergency event prompts 130 youth and community leaders from across the country to jump in and learn life-saving tactics during a January workshop, hosted by World Vision and local and international agencies. Participants get to put skills -- from medical and spiritual care, GPS navigation to security detail -- to the test.

All photos by Chris Huber/World Vision.

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Youth rush a mock victim to an ambulance during an emergency exercise. During the program, students learn the basics of providing medical care, such as prioritizing severity of victims’ injuries, dressing wounds, and immobilizing broken bones.

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Participants stage various degrees of injury during a mock disaster scene. Since 2012, the program has trained more than 2,600 youth and community leaders in 11 Latin American countries.

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World Vision’s Yamil Sanchez demonstrates how to use a GPS device during emergency response training.

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A participant checks waypoints on a GPS device. When participants return to their communities, they're plugged into a national network of responders — and equipped to help in a disaster.

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Training heats up as a firefighter helps a student extinguish flames during an exercise.

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A Red Cross worker shows students how to properly bandage an injury. The three-day workshop was a partnership between World Vision, the Red Cross, local governmental agencies, and civil service members.

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Youth participants rehearse rescue techniques on a volunteer posing with injuries during a training scenario. Students put their new knowledge into practice during the final day of World Vision’s emergency responder training event.

A woman takes in the staged chaotic scene after being treated in a triage tent.

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Gonzalo Mena of Granada, Nicaragua, leads activities in a simulated Child-Friendly Space. The exercise was part of the final session at World Vision’s emergency responder training.

Help join our efforts to prepare for real emergencies around the world.

Make a one-time donation to our Disaster Response Fund. In the wake of a disaster, it is children who suffer most. World Vision is often one of the first organizations to begin relief work after a humanitarian emergency, and we remain on the ground for the long haul, helping to rebuild communities and restore hope.

Sponsor a child in Nicaragua. Sponsorship funds help educate children on how to best serve their communities -- and helps them be better prepared to cope with disasters.